Book: Notes on a Scandal

"Notes on a Scandal" by Zoë Heller is a compelling psychological drama that dives deep into the complexities of obsession, loneliness, and morality. The novel is narrated by Barbara Covett, a solitary and sharp-tongued history teacher at a London comprehensive school. Barbara becomes fixated on her new colleague, the outgoing and alluring art teacher Sheba Hart. When Sheba engages in an illicit affair with a fifteen-year-old student, the scandal threatens to unravel her life, leaving Barbara as her only confidant. As the story unfolds, Barbara’s narrative reveals layers of her own desires and hidden motives. Heller masterfully crafts a taut and gripping tale that explores the dark corners of friendship and the thin line between support and control. Through Barbara’s unreliable narration, readers are drawn into a web of manipulation and delusion, questioning the very nature of truth and loyalty in a flawed and fractured world.